Merry Christmas to Us

I'm really excited about two Christmas presents we got this year - new cookbooks! Not that we have any time to cook as I mentioned in my last entry. I got Bill Mario Batali's Molto Italiano. I think many of the recipes are going to be really challenging but we're up for it. They are very authentic and not at all Olive Garden! We definitely need to buy a pasta press and meat grinder but we probably should have those items on hand anyway. The other cookbook we got is a follow up to our favorite cookbook The Wine Lover's Cookbook, which I have mentioned in this blog many times before, The Wine Lover Cooks with Wine. The first book is about pairing a wine with your meal based on the "base" (protein) and "bridge" (spices, cheese, vegetables, etc) ingredients used. The second book is about actually using wine in the preparation of the meal by steaming, braising, making a sauce, simminering or poaching with the wine. All three books are EXTREMELY informative by offering pages of discussion of both the food and wine. The wine books are actually really great learning tools and I still haven't found a chance to sit down and read the new one. I HIGHLY recommend them. Yes, they are a little more advanced and time consuming but totally worth it.

Introducing Audrey Helen

Our little one is finally here! Audrey Helen was born on 11/24/2009 at 2:57am, 6lbs 14oz and 19.5 inches long. Life has sure changed and it's hard to find time to get on the computer let alone write a blog. I can tell you that our foodie adventures have been put on hold as we struggle to even have time to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner but I had a few ideas to write about prior to Miss Audrey's arrival so I'll be sure to get some posts out here soon. I'm also looking to change the blog's layout so I can separate food blogs from items about the Aud Meister. After all, writing about my future children was the whole point of starting this blog in the first place. Who knew that the "future" would be here so fast! Little did I know.....

Here's Miss Audrey.....

Adam Richman from Man v. Food

Off to see Adam Richman's stand up show tonight right here in Iowa City. We paid the big bucks to sit on stage at a table. He's doing a cooking demo so we're hoping we'll get to try his tasty treats and meet him, of course! Hope to have some pics to post too!

Restaurant Tip

You've heard of a new restaurant opening up that's supposed to be amazing. You're dying to try it so you rush out the minute they open, have a horrible experience and vow never to return again. Sound familiar? My tip to you, as hard as it will be to restrain yourself, is to wait at least 3-4 weeks (or longer) after a restaurant has opened to visit. Let other people have the bad experience while all of the kinks are worked out and you can saunter in to reap the benefits and have a good experience to talk about instead of telling all of your friends NOT to try the new hip spot in town because everything sucked. You know what I'm talking about too - the servers are clueless, they ignored you, the food took over a half hour to get to your table and after all that, it wasn't even very good and you think it was overpriced. You go home totally bummed and complain to your friends. I can't recall one time in recent memory where a friend has told me about their experience at a new restaurant being good. Even if it wasn't terrible the response is usually something along the lines of, "Eh, it was okay."

Bill and I have gotten burned too many times and (I think) have finally learned our lesson. There are currently 3 new restaurants in town that we have yet to try but know of people who have tried them all. They all went either on the first night it opened or shortly thereafter and based on their reviews, we are waiting. 6 months and counting in one case (okay, maybe we're just lazy). So wait if you can. The restaurant may thank you too for the good review versus the bad one you would have given. And if it's still not good even after waiting, at least you gave them a fighting chance to improve.

Bon Appetit!

By the way, did you know the last "t" is silent? Like bon appetee. Really, I swear. I didn't know that either until I saw the movie Julie & Julia and heard it. Bill, who used to be somewhat fluent, confirmed this to be true. It sort of changes everything, doesn't it?

Back in August we went to see the movie with Sara and Matt and planned a 3-course French dinner afterwards. The movie is cute and it's killing me that I didn't think of it first. Do you think if I start to make all of Rachael Ray's recipes I'll get a book and movie deal? No? Damn. Seeing the movie made us all salivate and it was all we could do to finish watching it and not leave to go eat. If you like food at all, I'd recommend seeing it. Put it on your rental queue.

Dinner was fantastic. Bill and I made course 1 which was Emeril Lagasse's seared duck with a balsamic cherry reduction, duck-fat fried potatoes and haricot verts (the Frenchie words for green beans - of note, the "t"s are also silent). The highlight was the reduction. Can't even begin to tell you how good it was. In fact, I've added the recipe below so you can try it for yourselves. It would also be excellent over pork or chicken, maybe even shrimp.


Matt made course 2 which was Julia Child's recipe for boeuf bourguignon which I didn't realize is like a kick-ass beef stew. Don't think Dinty Moore here, people, think GOOD. I don't even like stew. It was served with an olive herb artisinal bread.


Sara made course 3 which was another Julia recipe for chocolate rum cake. Due to some miscalculations, it didn't turn out how it was supposed to but we're talking chocolate rum cake here, people. I'm not sure how, but we managed choked it down anyway. ;) Sara made it again the following weekend and it was superb (again).

Balsamic Cherry Reduction:
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons minced shallots
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
11/2 cups rich duck or chicken stock
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves
1 tablespoon cold butter
Salt and black pepper

Directions
Set a 1-quart saucepan over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, about 30 seconds, add the shallots, garlic and cherries. Cook the shallots, garlic and cherries until the garlic is fragrant and the shallots begin to caramelize, about 1 minute. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar, and when the vinegar is almost completely reduced, about 3 minutes, add the stock and chopped sage. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 15 minutes. Once the sauce is cooked, swirl the cold butter into the sauce and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse

Oyster Tasting

Who knew that eating an oyster should be compared to tasting wine? Bill and I were in Toronto in June 2008 when we went to Rodney's Oyster House, which was recently named by Travel + Leisure Magazine as one of the top 25 oyster bars in the world. We went with the intent of eating oysters but "tasting"? Not so much. Their menu was so long that we put our faith in our waiter to choose our oysters for us. Not knowing that I'd have a food-themed blog a year later, I didn't think to really pay much attention to which types they were, but he chose 3 different varieties, 4 of each total. I do remember that 2 varieties had the traditional oyster shaped shell but 1 variety had the creepy, gnarly looking shell. (And I'm sure you all know exactly what I'm talking about right?? :) I don't know how else to explain it.) Anyway, the waiter explained that people typically just get their oysters and then top them with whatever they prefer - cocktail sauce, horseradish, crackers, mignonette - and suck 'em down without much thought. Gee, sounds like me. What he told us was that each oyster should be tasted just like wine to determine the brinyness, grassiness, sweetness, etc. He had us taste (and by taste, that meant chew) one oyster of each variety plain and then the second one topped with our choice of accoutrements (which, as a side note, is my new favorite word). It was a really eye-opening experience and we were shocked at the difference in taste between the plain version and the souped up one. We preferred some of them with our toppings which actually enhanced the natural flavors (similar to what food can do for wine) but others were better without. Made us wonder how many other yummy oysters' flavors we had masked by automatically reaching for the horseradish. I urge you to try this yourself but fair warning, if you do this, you may discover that you don't really like oysters at all and what you really like is cocktail sauce. But on the bright side, oysters aren't exactly cheap so you'd save yourself some money when eating out!

Also, some of you may have heard that you should only eat oysters during months containing the later R. While this was based on truth - before the days of refrigeration, oysters would spoil in the heat of the other months - this is no longer true. So eat up!